I'm British, and I spent three weeks backpacking around southern Utah / northern Arizona (Paria Canyon through hike, other bits & pieces) in '98. It was absolutely fantastic, trip of a lifetime. Don't just think about the national parks - there's a lot more seriously remote real wilderness out there, e.g. parts of Grand Staircase /Escalante.

I was in the area twice - long trip in June/July, *hot*, regretted bothering to carry a sleeping bag, and short trip at Easter, *snow*, regretted not bringing a down jacket.

The desert is to be taken seriously, especially if you're going into remote areas. If you don't have desert experience, it's worth hooking up with somebody who does for a few days - I spent the first week of my three week visit with a Sierra Club group, some great folks and learned a lot. Might be worth considering something similar.

One specific recommendation for a base area would be around Escalante/Boulder. Idyllic area, heart of Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument and within easy striking distance of many national parks: Capitol Reef, Bryce, Zion. Close to mountains if the desert's too hot, close to desert if the mountains are too cold.

Southern Utah is got to be one of the most diverse areas in the US as far as scenery goes. There's all the parks Ben mentioned, and you aren't that far from the Grand Canyon if you want to try and fit that in too. I have day hiked in most of the national parks, and backpacked in Escalante National Mounument. If you like slickrock canyons then ENM is a good place to hang out in as Alan suggested.

If you base yourself around Bishop in the Owens Valley, you will have easy access to world class climbing in the Owens River Gorge, Buttermilks bouldering area, and countless alpine routes along the Eastern Sierra Crest. The Valley is also a great place to bike, hike, sightsee, fish, or just hang out, and the backpacking is pretty darn fine in the bargain. And, as Rick already said, it is a great place to be in October. I'm prejudiced, too, but we're really not exaggerating this time.

if you don't plan on backpacking I would probably recommend Southern Utah over Eastern Sierras.Probably better for site seeing.

however, if you do choose Eastern Sierra, I'd recommend basing out of Mammoth. Problem with Sierra Eastside in October is there is a good chance the road up through Tuolumne into Yosemite Valley may be closed for the winter from snow.if the Tioga road is still open then the Sierra Eastside would be strong competion for Utah.

p.s.ok just checked, Tioga Road has only closed in October twice in the last 20 years. So Sierra Eastside is back on the table as an almost equal candidate to Utah.

Thankyou so much, this is really useful info. I may actually have to go to India this year now due to financial situations. Its cost 450 to fly to instead of 550 (pounds) and is obviously going to be a lot cheaper when there...